Phew! What a busy week. Last weekend we went down to the south coast to celebrate one friend’s birthday and another’s new house. We had hoped it would be Bob’s first trip to the seaside, but the weather was too horrible to contemplate the beach, so that fun is yet to come.

Veggies, herbs, and flowers all mixed in together

My parents came to visit for the first half of the week, and Dad did some amazing work in the garden. I love gardening, but I’ve struggled to find the time for it over the past few summers and this, combined with my general reluctance to cut things back, meant that it was a bit of a jungle, overrun by self sown hardy geraniums, and megalomaniac ivy, lamium and jasmine. We used to have poplar trees at the back of the garden, but had them removed last year as a precaution after a neighbour had problems with theirs. Our once shady garden is now very sunny, so I can grow veggies for the first time. Dad made all the ruthless decisions I’ve been avoiding and has transformed the beds to a lovely flower bed on one side and a combined veg, herb and rose bed on the other. The whole thing’s looking great, and I’m looking forward to serving up some of my own runner beans, courgettes and potatoes later in the year. I have very fond memories of growing veg with Daddy when I was little (and then cooking it with Mummy!), and this is something I’m looking forward to doing with Bob.

One of the only bits of my original planting scheme to survive – variegated berberis and golden philadelphus

While Dad toiled in the garden, Mum played with Bob, so I was able to make some real progress sorting out my craft room. The table part of our changing table (which I’ve never used) has been pressed into service and has allowed me to get a few more things out of storage boxes. I also managed to get a bit ahead with housework, so I managed to spoil myself with a couple of crafting sessions later in the week. Look out for a blog post about the technique I was using very soon. At the weekend we had another birthday barby, this time with family. The birthday boy was 3, and I’d hoped to make a penny slider card, but spent too long trying to find the Pixar Cars embellishments I wanted to use. I made a Woodland Folk card from a kit instead, but then forgot to photograph it – doh! I should be telling you about the Fathers’ Day cards I made too, but for some reason I had it in my head that it wasn’t for another week, so they’re not done yet. The three special dads in my life will just have to have their very own day this week – Queenie gets two birthdays, so why not?!